The Walking Dead
by fezsarecool
Summary: "It's strange. I look back to how things are now, so broken and so insane, and I can't believe that, once upon a time, everything was so ordered. There was school, there was work, there was innocence and life and yes, there was death, but now, that's mostly what the world is made up of."
1. Prologue

**I really wanted to write a Walking Dead story that explains how the apocalypse began and it's progression to get to where it is now, rather than just someone waking up to find that they're in the middle of the apocalypse. So this is the result. Enjoy :D**

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_It's strange. I look back to how things are now, so broken and so insane, and I can't believe that, once upon a time, everything was so ordered. There was school, there was work, there was innocence and life and yes, there was death, but now, that's mostly what the world is made up of._

_You see, "dead" has three very distinct phases nowadays._

_There's the first phase, which is what everyone was used to before all of this. You're a normal, living, breathing person, with people you care about and memories about what you've been through that make up who you are. But then something happens. It could be disease or a car accident, it doesn't matter. The point is, you die. That's how it should be right? Death, and then you're gone._

_But then there is the second phase. The one where you come back. The one where suddenly your corpse starts to move and your eyes open but you're not the person you were before. It doesn't take very long for this to happen after you die, a few hours at most. There's a few different names people have given those things; biters, geeks, zombies...but for most of us, they're called "walkers."_

_The mistake that most people make is that they still believe that a walker is a real person. It's mostly denial. They want to believe that their mother or brother or friend is still in there somewhere, and for that reason they can't get themselves to kill them. But what they don't understand is that no matter what they are, they are dangerous. They don't think; their only goal is to eat whatever is alive, and if they bite or scratch you, then you'll turn into one of them. Simple as that._

_So that brings me to the last phase; the one where you're dead for good. The only way to kill a walker is by destroying the brain, so naturally, shooting them in the head works pretty well. Of course there's better alternatives, like using a knife or smashing their skulls in, but that's the easiest way._

_After that last phase, it's over._

_This is what we, and by we, I mean my brother and I, have become accustomed to._

_I guess I should explain how this all began. It was sudden; almost overnight. But, as things go, I'll "begin at the beginning"..._

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**Chapter 1 will be published very soon! I've made up my own characters, so none of the ones from the TV series will be included, sorry.**


	2. Chapter 1

My eyes slowly blinked open.

_Where am I?_ I thought wearily. This wasn't my bedroom...this was somewhere completely different. And I was moving.

I began to lift my hand to rub the sleep out of my eyes, but stopped shortly. I was trapped. Not just trapped- I was tied down to...to a gurney?

I finally realized where I was- a hospital, and someone was pushing the bed through the dark, abandoned corridor. I tilted my head back to see a doctor pushing me down the hall. I couldn't make out anything but what he was wearing; scrubs and a surgeon's mask, but not any facial features.

"Where am I?" I asked him, my voice cracking near the end. He didn't respond. It didn't even seem like he noticed that I spoke. I swallowed hard. "Hey! Where am I?! Where's my brother?!"

Still nothing. He continued to push the gurney through the hallway and stared straight ahead. My heart began to race. I struggled against the straps, trying desperately to free my arms and legs, but it was pointless. The restraints were so tight they nearly cut off the circulation.

Suddenly, we stopped moving. The doctor moved to unlock a large, windowless door and pushed the bed inside.

I heard him utter a single word.

"Infected," he said, and shut the door behind him, leaving me alone in a room that was pitch black except for the flickering light above my head. I heard the soft click that meant he locked the door and the sound of his footsteps retreating down the hallway.

"Hey!" I screamed. "Come back! You can't leave me here!"

There was a quiet moan in response to my cries. Then two. Three more voices joined in.

I froze and saw the figures of people emerge from the darkness, cold dead eyes piercing mine as they struggled to limp their way toward me with childlike clumsiness. As they got closer, I realized that I recognized a few of the faces. They were all people I knew; my little brother Tanner, my dad, my aunt, my best friend, my neighbor...

I looked down at my stomach and saw that my shirt was torn to reveal my flesh, which was swollen and dripping with blood from a bitemark.

My head snapped back up to see the now dead faces of my friends and family next to me. They began to tear at my skin and lift whatever they could to their greedy mouths as I screamed in pain.

Then everything went black.

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My eyes yanked open to the familiar walls of my bedroom. I was breathing hard, and covered in a light sheen of sweat.

_It was...it was just a nightmare, _I thought. I sat up to turn on my bedside lamp and looked at the clock; 3:24 a.m. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair.

A dream...but it felt so real. As dramatic as the scenario was, I really felt like it was happening. I know I felt those things tearing me apart, bit by bit. I shuddered, still hearing the sound of them sucking my blood off their fingers.

Infected. The word turned over in my mind. Infected because of the bite? I couldn't help but raise my shirt, half-expecting to see the swollen bite mark, but instead, finding nothing but the plain, pale flesh of my stomach.

"Stupid," I muttered aloud. Of course it wasn't real. Whatever was happening out there...it's all just a story. The world is still the same, right?

Still, I knew that without that lamp on, I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. I crawled back under the covers and wrapped myself tightly, trying to expel the dream from my mind and go back to sleep.

_Tomorrow will be better_, I thought._ Tomorrow will be better. _


End file.
